Flashpoint's and Operation's
Flashpoints and Operations http://swtorsecrets.com/membersarea/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/esseles1.pngAs you start leveling up, you’ll come across multiple opportunities to partake in group gameplay. In SWTOR the dungeons and raids are called Flashpoints and Operations. While we don’t yet have a full break down of the Flashpoints and Operations in the game, we have some details to get you started when creating your groups. Flashpoints in particular are for 4 players while Operations are for 8 players. As of right now there is no content for larger groups, though that might change in future expansions if Bioware decides that players miss the larger 25 man content runs. The usual breakdown is in effect here – healers, tanks and DPS. So, your group needs to be built with all three in mind ensuring there is enough damage output to offset the necessary healing and tanking. On average, that means you’ll go with 1 tank, 1 healer and 2 DPS in a Flashpoint and in Operations, you’ll have 2 tanks, 2 healers and four DPS, though in some cases you may need an extra healer to offset the damage done by your opponents. One of the coolest parts about Flashpoints is that they are so heavily story driven (like the rest of the game). It actually becomes a part of group gameplay. When an NPC presents a specific choice for your team, everyone selects an option and the random dice roll (off screen of course) will decide which is selected. Your choice will affect your Dark Side and Light Side point balance while the group choice will affect the flow of the Flashpoint and the story going forward. See the class sections for specific strategies on how to play your class in Flashpoint/Operation combat. The Esseles (Republic) *Level: 10 *Faction: Republic *Objective: Defend a ship being attacked by Imperial forces to protect a high ranking passenger. Lieutenant Isric As an early level boss, there is a lot of forgiveness in Isric’s rotation. The two things you need to be most wary of are the frontal cone attack he fires at your party and the adds he calls in to target your healer. Blow cooldowns to protect the healer and kill those adds and you’ll be set. Ironfist Ironfist is all about hitting everyone in your party at once, but thankfully he likes to announce what he is doing well in advance of actually doing it, so you should have plenty of reaction time. His knockback ability is melee only so keep everyone but your tank at least 10 yards away and his missile ability is emoted well in advance of the cast. Adds can be tanked or killed, but I recommend killing them as they’re pretty easy. ISS-944 This fight is interesting because he basically enrages every minute or so, but when he enrages he slows down so much that you can get away. The key is to recognize the emote for the enrage and high tail it out of there before he can get to you. Kite him until he turns back to normal and then rush back in for DPS. Lord Vokk Vokk is a tough boss for a level 10 instance. The two things you need to watch out for are his AoE knockback ability, and his force lightning. The knockback should be avoided by everyone but the tank because he will followup it up with a Lightsaber Throw at anyone who gets hit. If your healer gets hit, he’ll probably die. Watch out for Force Choke as well. It can be interrupted or you can use your Level 9 CC break ability to get free. The Black Talon (Empire) *Level: 10 *Faction: Empire *Objective: Seize control of an Imperial Transport and intercept a Republic ship. Strategy: This particular instance is easy because it is designed as an entry level instance for players who just finished their starter planet and may not yet have their Advanced Class planned out. You will also face many non-elites meaning you don’t need a full group to pull it off. The bosses include: GXR-5 Sabotage Droid The first boss has both melee and ranged attacks and therefore needs to be tanked with the pillars in the room. Using cover is extremely effective in this battle and there are plenty of adds throughout the fight so you’ll need to be careful to keep at least on damage dealer on top of them at all times. Commander Ghulil You’ll face Commander Ghulil on the Brentaal Star Transport Deck and is primarily a melee opponent, meaning you can tank him face to face if you have a tank specced already. Watch out for his sentries that hit with AoE attacks every few seconds. You’ll need to kite him carefully to avoid these overtaking the field of play. Yadira Ban Yadira Ban is a Jedi Consular who is protecting the General and must be killed to get into the escape pod. Her ability to force pull and slow your team members will be a tough one to overcome if you aren’t a full party or advanced specced yet. After the force pull, Ban uses a ground slam that hits all nearby opponents for damage. If you can avoid these ground slams by staying at a decent distance when she emotes for the force pull, you can burn through her HP pretty fast. Hammer Station (Both) *Level: 16 *Faction: Both *Objective: Unknown DN-314 This boss will target one of your players at random for pretty hefty damage. It’s a line of sight attack, though, so if you move behind the tank or a pillar, the attack will miss you. His adds have a habit of exploding, so you should watch for the emote – they turn red and stop moving 2-3 seconds before exploding. Vorgan the Volcano Vorgan has two adds – Torch and Sawbones. Torch deals damage and Sawbones heals all three of them. You want your tank to hold both of the adds at all times while your DPS focus fire on Sawbones. We don’t like enemy healers – they extend the fight too long and make it nearly impossible to win. Battlelord Kreshan The frontal attack, Sweeping Gunfire is similar to a dragon swipe in a fantasy MMO, so keep the boss faced away from the party at all times and heal the tank heavily to avoid him taking too much damage from the sweep. Adds will always target your healer as well, so focus fire on any that appear, especially without movement if possible (due to the explosive mines on the ground) Athis *Level 19 *Faction: Both *Objective: Ley’arsha This boss throws down a DoT spot on the ground you need to avoid (and it stacks!) so never stand there longer than necessary. Face her away from the party when possible to avoid the frontal cone too, though don’t do this at the detriment of putting your tank into an AoE field. The Beast This boss needs to be tanked like normal but with a nice buffer between him and anyone that isn’t a tank. So, tank should face him inward and then the rest of your party should be at least 10 yards away. When adds appear, burn them down as fast as possible before resuming tank and spank duties on the main boss. Prophet of Vodal The third and final boss in this instance is yet another that needs a tank-only facing strategy. Because Crushing Darkness hits for 90% of base health, it will be impossible to heal all four party members through it. The tank can be the only that gets hit with this attack. There are two mid-stages for this fight as well. At 66% and then again at 33%, he calls out fireballs to debuff a random party member. The person who gets debuffed needs to take care of the fireballs while everyone attacks the boss to burn through this mid-stage. Streets of Cademimu *Level *Faction: *Objective: Police Squad This is actually two bosses at once, so you’ll need to divide duties carefully to make sure you can tank them both at once. However, EN-4C can’t be hit, so what you should do is focus fire your attention on Officer Xander and kite the droid (who hits hard but is pretty slow). Captain Grimyk His main attack targets your tank but anyone who stands too close will get hit by it so steer clear if you’re not the tank. AoE grenade attacks should be avoided as well, because they will chain. So, every player should be 10 yards from the boss and 8 yards from each other to avoid the chain damage. General Ortol It’s a pretty common strategy in SWTOR – the boss hits super hard in melee range so everyone who isn’t a tank should get back. He also has three mid-stages at 75%, 50% and 25%. When he hits those milestones, he will cast a rocket that can hit for pretty heavy duty damage. Run away when he does this to avoid getting hit by the rocket. They will keep moving (and there will be three at a time moving by the time he hits 25%). Mandalorian Raiders *Level: 21-25 *Faction: Both Although the stated level range for the Mandalorian Raiders is 21 to 25 it is recommended to be between 25 and 28 before attempting this flashpoint. The Mandalorian Raiders is the fourth flashpoint available to players and it is a relatively challenging instance with three very diverse boss fights to deal with. Only extremely skilled players will be able to make it through this flashpoint at the bottom of the level range and even they will have a hard time doing so. Braxx the Bloodhound Braxx the Bloodhound is the first boss encounter within the Mandalorian Raiders flashpoint and by far the most straightforward of the bunch. Braxx is flanked by two bloodhound adds that have to be dropped before he can be targeted. During the fight Braxx will use an cleave, an AOE centered around him that does damage over time to anyone within range. While cleave is being used a red circle will form around Braxx and all melee fighters need to move out of the way. The tank starts the fight by generating threat on Braxx as well as both of the adds. After the initial threat the tank should focus on one of the two adds and the DPS should burn it down. Right before it dies the tank should switch to generating threat on the second add and the DPS should begin killing him as soon as they have dealt with the first. After both adds are dealt with it is a simple tank and spank to the death. As long as the melee players remember to stay out of range of cleave you shouldn’t have a problem finishing the fight. Imperial Boarding Squad The second boss fight, against the Imperial Boarding Squad, is more difficult than the first. This time you have four different imperials to deal with each with unique abilities that make the fight more interesting. At the start of the fight your tank should generate threat on each of the four imperials and then focus fire on Vincine, the most powerful of the bunch. While this is going on the other three members need to get out of the line of sight behind one of the two large boxes at either back corner of the room. When the group is out of sight, the tank should run over to them and everyone should begin killing Vincine. When he is dead move on to the similarly powerful warrior Rotham. Be sure to burn all of your cooldowns and abilities on the first two enemies and stay on top of heals. Burn down Rotham and move on to either of the two remaining imperials who are much easier. Generate aggro on one and drop him, then drop the last remaining imperial to finish the fight. Mavrix Varad Mavrix Varad is the last boss that you will encounter within the flashpoint. The fight is a standard DPS race with only a few mechanics to look out for. Your tank should immediately rush Mavrix Varad at the start of the fight, building aggro right where he stands. Allow the tank to get sufficient aggro and begin DPSing Varad. Throughout the fight Mavrix Varad will be letting out a random AOE rocket ability known as flame burst. As long as your group avoids the red circle on the floor they won’t have any problems with it. 45 seconds into the fight Mavrix Varad will begin to randomly jump around the room. Eventually he will stop at a platform and spawn two turrets. The tank should grab aggro on both of the turrets and focus threat generation on one of them, while the group burns it down. Switch to the second turret after the first is gone and go back to attacking Mavrix when the turrets are dealt with. All of your cooldowns should be used to drop the turrets as fast as possible. He will begin to jump around the room and spawn two more turrets on the opposite platform 45 seconds later. Follow the same strategy yet again and he will hopefully die after the turrets are dealt with this time. If not, keep burning down the turrets that spawn every 45 seconds and returning to damage Mavrix Varad, until he finally dies. Boarding Party (Empire) *Level: 32 *Faction: Empire *Objective: Track down an escaped Republic prisoner and stop an attack on the Empire HXI-54 This is a pretty easy boss. The one thing you need to do in these fights is to avoid the targeting reticule he projects on the ground. You get a few seconds to move, so it’s not that hard, but if you’re not paying attention (healers watching icons!) you’ll get dinged pretty hard. Major Alvena This is a weird fight because the boss (Alvena) and her two adds stand in place for the entire fight – it’s like Final Fantasy back in the day. The key to the fight is ensuring they stay focused on your tank. Burn through those Droids first, with focus fire on one mob at a time to avoid overpulling agro from multiple mobs. Sakan Do’nair Do’nair has lackeys too and they heal him so you know we want them dead and gone as fast as possible. If you are a Guardian or have played as one, you’ll recognize Do’nair’s attacks, so avoid things like Cleave and always keep moving to avoid getting drawn into melee range with him. The tank will need to be very, very active here. Storm Squad This fight consists of three bosses- Alon, Massey and Jorland. Each has a specific role – with Alon acting as the healer, so your attacks will focus on him first. Massey buffs Jorland with a reflect spell, so you’ll want to kill him next, then tank and spank Jorland who is pretty straightforward (and not especially strong). The Foundry *Level: *Faction: *Objective: HK-47 At the start of the fight, HK-47 is in the middle of the room and you need to pull him away to deal any damage. Whenever he summons adds, kill them immediately. When activates his power core, make sure to destroy the pillar to avoid him getting a very large buff that will make him impossible to kill. Revan Revan changes forms twice in the fight making for three full stages. He can cut the armor level of your tank in the first phase (so you may want to rotate tanks), he has a number of AoE attacks in phase 2 that hit everyone in the party, and in phase 3 he gets very strong and hard to hit. You’ll need to time your attacks around his defensive buffs so you don’t waste too much firepower and blow your cooldowns. Directive 7 *Level: 50 *Faction: Both *Objective: Shut down a droid rebellion brewing on a distant moon before it can destroy both the Republic and Empire Mentor Assassin Droids This fight is fun. It consists of three droids with different reactions to the damage you deal. The left droid reflects your attacks while the right droid absorbs it, but that’s only at the start. They will start to rotate as you deal damage, so your goal is to constantly change targeting to attack the droid that doesn’t have a shield. Interrogator Interesting fight for a few reasons. First, the boss will create a clone of one of your characters at random. Whenever a clone spawns, focus fire it immediately, especially if he clones your healer or your DPS. If you let multiple clones hit the field at once, you’ll almost never be able to catch up and kill them all, so that should be your primary focus at all times. Bulwark The bulk of this fight is spent running in circles. When the large targeting reticule appears on the ground everyone should get at least 10 yards from the edges of it to avoid getting hit by the attack that follows. Every now and then he will put up a defensive shield and start channeling an attack that can wipe your group in most instances. Your job is to focus fire on one panel of his defensive shield and break through it before he finishes channeling. If you can break it before he casts, you’ll be fine. If not, you’ll probably wipe. Assembler Because of the turrets in this fight, use line of sight to your advantage. Hide behind objects in the room or behind your tank and focus fire on the Assembler. Put one person in charge of interrupting his heals so he doesn’t heal through the damage you cast either. Don’t both attacking the turrets. Mentor When the fight starts, The Mentor will drop two turrets. You can only hide from one of them (based on how the room is setup), but you should absolutely do so. Because of his extra airborne add, you’ll need to move constantly, only stopping behind objects to avoid getting hit by the second turret. Once you destroy the turrets, your tank should pick up the new add – a rather powerful Guardian with mega high hit points. The rest of your team should then focus fire on the processor cores when they turn blue. Your healer should be ready with all of his cooldowns when the last processor goes down because Mentor will hit someone at random for a lot of damage. Once that’s all done, kill Mentor. Other Known Flashpoints *Maelstrom Prison *The Battle of Ilum *The False Emperor *Colicoid War Game =Operations= Eternity Vault *Level: 50 *Faction: Both Annihilation Droid This fight isn’t too strange as far as boss fights go, but you’ll need to contend with the frontal cleave and knockback that all operation bosses have (so get to your side positions to avoid them. This droid also has a chain effect that hits a random target and anyone around him for heavy damage. So, when it’s cast, everyone not targeted needs to get back. He also has a very powerful line of sight ability that he casts every 90 seconds to hit anyone in his vision range – that means you’ll need to move behind crates and objects to avoid the damage he can deal. Infernal Council This isn’t a traditional group fight at all. In fact, it’s a multi-player duel. Each player in your party will face off against a random Marauder, Juggernaut or Assassin in a one on one fight. The opponents you face will have only a couple of abilities and you can avoid them all so it’s not unfair to any one class. Interrupts are huge though, because if you can’t heal you’ll take a lot of damage very quickly. Healers in particular should face off against Assassins to avoid getting overwhelmed. Gharj Gharj is a more traditional raid-style boss fight in that he has multiple phases and he moves a lot. Here is a breakdown of each and what you’ll face: *Phase 1 – Has a jumping ability that hits any melee in range. So, melee should watch the emote and move whenever he gets airborne. When he moves to the next island, he will use Smashing Leap to destroy the first island. *Phase 2 – He has a knockback now that will throw you into the lava so hit him hard and fast and get to phase 3 as fast as possible. *Phase 3 – The same as the first island (with that knockback ability) *Phase 4 – Whenever he leaps, he will summon adds that must be killed before you can resume DPS on Gharj. So, be ready to burn your cooldowns here. Ancient Pylons This is a pretty cool fight because, while it does include a lot of DPS and fight mechanics, it also requires coordination and a lot of fine movements. Split your team into two groups of four (each with 1 tank, 1 healer and 2 DPS). Use the consoles whenever the cooldown is up. Between cooldowns, you’ll face off against a number of adds in 4 person groups (8 in higher difficulty). The real kicker is that the pattern on the console is not consistent so you need to try to solve the puzzle in as few moves as possible. if you can solve it fast, it’s pretty simple. If not, you’ll probably wipe as you exhaust your cooldowns.